Can Creative City Project's month of free performances make Orlando a stronger community?

Picture: Cirque du Soleil performers at Orlando City Hall

Hansong Gu

Performers from Cirque Du Soleil's La Nouba perform outside at Orlando City Hall on Thursday, September 27, 2012. Each day during October, artists from Creative CIty Project will take to the streets of downtown Orlando.

Performers from Cirque Du Soleil's La Nouba perform outside at Orlando City Hall on Thursday, September 27, 2012. Each day during October, artists from Creative CIty Project will take to the streets of downtown Orlando. (Hansong Gu)

Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel

Don't be surprised if starting Monday you hear the occasional round of applause on the streets of downtown Orlando. Each day during October, a different live performance will take place on the city's sidewalks, in plazas and parks. A pianist will tickle the ivories; actors will emote; Cirque du Soleil characters will clown and contort.

The series of free performances, which coincides with National Arts and Humanities Month, was the brainchild of local writer-actor Cole NeSmith. He hopes the event, named the Creative City Project, will mean more than watching a ballerina pirouette on Orange Avenue.

In fact, he thinks bringing art to the streets can change the fabric of Orlando, create a stronger sense of community, encourage more creative people to put down roots here and dispel the stubborn notion that the City Beautiful is an artistic wasteland.

"I wanted to do something to add to the culture that people feel isn't here," NeSmith said. "I believe in the power of art to change a place."

"We have a lot of wonderful artists, and we want people to know about them," said Terry Olson, who teamed with NeSmith on the project. Although Orange County is not a sponsor of the project, Olson's position as the county's director of Arts and Cultural Affairs meant he had valuable contacts for recruiting performers.

Not that they needed much encouragement.

"Artists love to create art," NeSmith said. "Within three or four days of putting out a call, I got 40 great responses."

Olson also brought experience to the table: More than a decade ago, he used downtown balconies to publicly stage scenes from plays such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story."

NeSmith has a particular interest in human relations. In an unusual show called "Connected" at this year's Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, he had audience members wear headphones so the show's narrator spoke directly to each viewer. The show explored the feeling of belonging and community.

Downtown developer Craig Ustler thinks strengthening Orlando's cohesion is important for the city's future — and projects such as these can only help.

"I think what we have consistently been saying for a long time is we lack a certain sense of community and cultural assets that other places have," said Ustler, who sits on the board of the forthcoming Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. "You have to have the little emotional things like this. They are the cultural building blocks."

One of the difficulties in establishing a sense of community is that it can't be legislated into existence, he said.

"Any good businessman, any good politician will tell you the stuff that sticks tends to be grass-roots efforts from someone who's passionate rather than someone who decrees something," Ustler said.

Another factor inhibiting Orlando's community identity is the transience of tourists and residents, NeSmith said. Many artists spend a few years in Central Florida, perhaps do a stint at a theme park, then head to bigger cities. He hopes if Orlando becomes known as a place more steeped in the arts, artists will be more likely to stick around.

Musician Julian Bond, who will participate in the Creative City Project on Oct. 11, will be hard to miss. He'll be roving Orange Avenue — playing a piano as he goes. The piano will be perched on a trailer.

Bond, a Walt Disney World pianist, is looking forward to entertaining fellow Central Floridians. Like the other performers, he's volunteering his time.

"While theme parks are filled with exciting shows and other presentations, there's so much more going on in Orlando, driven by individual artists or small groups," Bond said. "Though we appreciate the tourists, it's fun to do something for ourselves as a community."

An event such as the Creative City Project can create new arts fans, said Patrick Greene, director of programming for the cultural collective Urban ReThink.

"I hear people say, 'I'm not really interested in the theater or in contemporary art.' Then they see something and say, 'Oh, I didn't expect to like that,' " said Greene, who recently organized a pop-up-art event called "Walk on By."

His response to such comments: "Then don't think about New York all the time. Look at all the great stuff going on here."

Greene thinks experiencing the arts in unexpected places can increase their effect.

"You're involving the community more directly," he said. "You don't have the divide a museum might create: The art's right there."

Added Olson: "These are the little things that make you love a place more."